Alina Rosenkranz |
UP alum Clint Niehus, who worked for Peace Corps in Senegal from 2010 - 2012, has countless memories from his experience. But his favorite part of working in Senegal was simply living with his host family and learning to speak Wolof, a language only spoken in West Africa, that he had never heard of before.
“Everything from just waking up every morning in my mud hut in a village in Western Africa, going outside and waking up my host brother, going to our fields and working there,” Niehus said. “Being able to communicate – entering a market and feeling comfortable to communicate in Wolof.”
Niehus is one of dozens of UP alumni who have worked for the Peace Corps, a federal agency that sends people from the U.S. around the world to provide various services. The process of joining Peace Corps recently became much easier.
The online application process, which used to take about eight hours, now takes only an hour to fill out. The application is also much simpler than it was previously, when it required several essays and a wealth of personal information.
Sarah Kassel, a regional recruiter for Peace Corps in Portland, said the aim of the organization is to provide a cultural exchange. Kassel said her time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Micronesia was the most life-changing experience she has ever had.
“You learn to think in new ways and to consider different approaches” Kassel said.
Kassel said Peace Corps projects are collaborative and sustainable. Instead of the U.S. initiating programs, other countries invite Peace Corps to work with them.
Kassel said the most common reasons people work for the Peace Corps is their love of learning about other countries, being adventurous and the desire to contribute to community development. She pointed out that travel experience is not a requirement, and that when she started to work for Peace Corps she had only traveled a little bit before.
Kassel said UP students’ applications tend to stand out because of their background in volunteer experience.
“The two-year length of the project might seem long, but college is four years long and that goes by in a blink of an eye,” Kassel said.
Often, Kassel said, the first year of a Peace Corps placement is spent adjusting, while the second year provides rich opportunities to make a difference.
Freshman Annie Morachs’ plans on working with Peace Corps in hopes of preparing for a career with an NGO.
“My uncle was in Honduras for two years,” Morach said. “He had some really awesome stories about that, so yeah, I really want to apply.”
Alina Rosenkranz is a reporter for The Beacon. You can reach her at rosenkra17@up.edu.
